Post updated at 10:32 a.m. Friday, May 12:
There are more than 300 Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Stores throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Arkansas, but none closer to Lawrence than Emporia, more than an hour drive away.
That could soon change, as plans are on file for the family-owned corporation to open a restaurant and grocery store on the western edge of Lawrence.
The project is early in the planning process, but if approved, the store would be built at 6200 W. Sixth St. The site is just northwest of Sixth Street and George Williams Way, near Rock Chalk Park. The plan would not require any zoning changes, according to the application.
Braum’s products are not available in grocery stores, but its locations are three stores in one, according to the company’s website:
“The Braum’s Grill serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 7 days a week. The Braum’s Fountain serves hand-dipped ice cream cones, and other spectacular ice cream creations like sundaes, banana splits, malts and more made right before your very eyes,” according to the website. “Braum’s Fresh Market offers a full line of ‘Fresh From the Farm’ dairy products, bakery products made each day in the Braum bakery, over 150 fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables, and so much more.”
The Lawrence store’s footprint would be 6,152 square feet, according to the plans.
Braum’s does not franchise stores — they’re all owned and operated by the Braum family, according to the website.
“Braum’s products are delivered every other day by our own fleet of refrigerated trucks so that we can sell and serve fresh products,” according to the FAQs on their website. “In order to deliver this freshness, our delivery system requires that store locations be within approximately a 330-mile radius of our processing plant and distribution center in Tuttle, Oklahoma, 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.”
Depending on which way you drive, the Lawrence store would be about 343 miles from that dairy.
We reached out to Braum’s headquarters and the plan applicant.
“We have been looking to acquire a site in Lawrence, but there is no definitive plan yet,” Amanda Beuchaw, public relations director for Braum’s, said via email Friday morning. “If we are able to secure a site, there is no timeline for when a store might be built.”
The plans submitted to the city’s planning department call for the single-story store building to have 64 parking spots to the north and east of the building, plus four bike parking spots.
The red pin on the map below shows the approximate location of the proposed store.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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